I read an article the other day about new AI technology that will allow people to communicate with artificial versions of their departed loved ones. The technology interviews people prior to death and stores their stories, voices, images and life history. After death, family and friends will be able to virtually interact with dead friends and family as though they were still here. The person who tried the technology said that they almost forgot that the AI created persona wasn’t real, and in many ways, it was better than the real thing because the AI version was never sick, unpleasant or challenging.
I could hardly believe what I was reading, but perhaps, I should not have been shocked. It seems that far too many of today’s amusements, conveniences and technologies are designed to shield us from real life. Video games and a majority of motion pictures steer us away from reality. Smart phones push our faces down instead of up and interacting with real people in the real world. Politically inspired covid directives are allowing tens of millions to work from home rather than actually interact with real people in a physical workplace. And now, technology that may allow us to avoid dealing with loss altogether.
One wonders if we will get to a point where an AI version of an aged parent or chronically ill spouse will be easier to handle than the real thing, and society will tacitly give a thumbs up to discarding the broken original for a more comfortable AI version…That may seem science fiction today, but that option is being hurled in our direction at warp speed. When we combine unrestrained AI development with right to die movements and a society falling away from religion and faith in God. When we see a society moving away from naturally produced and refined resources toward frankenfoods, green energy that isn’t, and the pseudo religion called human caused climate change, we must ask ourselves, is replacing a broken human being who is expensive and inconvenient to care for really that far off?
Thankfully, I think there is still hope. This move away from reality is still primarily a coastal -first world problem. Most people in the developing world still have deep connections to where their food, energy, clothing and shelter come from. They are generally more comfortable with the realities of life and death, and their idea of moving up in the world might be as simple as being able to afford clean drinking water, fresh fruit, a little electricity or affordable education and healthcare for their children. I also think that once we subtract the coastal, tech and political elites, most Americans still have their heads on straight when it comes to the big issues. Trouble is, soon, we’ll have fewer choices as those elites push their agendas.
Kris Stewart is a rancher in Paradise Valley, Nevada.